A 10-minute routine
Practice piano chords without reading music
A 10-minute routine for practicing piano chords without sheet music: four chords, a bass note and a few minutes of playing freely. All it takes is a piano or keyboard.
For anyone who knows a few chord shapes, from videos, chord charts or trial and error, and wants to play without anything to follow.
The chords
Four chords and their numbers
C · G · Am · F is 1–5–6m–4
C, G, Am and F turn up in a great many songs. In the key of C, their numbers are 1, 5, 6m and 4.
The numbers come from counting the white keys up from C: C is 1, D is 2, and so on up to B, which is 7.
A chord takes the number of the key it starts on. The small m means minor, the darker-sounding one.
Names tell you which keys to press. Numbers tell you what the chord does, and they stay the same in every key.
The shapes
Build each chord with one rule
Start on the chord’s own key, skip one white key, press the next, skip one, press the next.
- 1 · C is C, E and G
- 5 · G is G, B and D
- 6m · Am is A, C and E
- 4 · F is F, A and C
Many players use thumb, middle finger and little finger. Any grip that feels easy is fine.
Minutes 1–2
Find the four shapes
Play each chord slowly, hold it, and say its number out loud: 1, 5, 6m, 4.
No clock and no tempo yet. Let your hand find each shape before your eyes check it.
Minutes 3–4
Change between two chords
Go back and forth between 1 and 4, C and F, until the change feels easy. Then try 1 and 5, then 6m and 4.
Try the nearest version as well: from C, keep the C, and move E up to F and G up to A. That is still F.
If one change keeps catching, stay with that pair a little longer. That pair is today’s practice.
Minutes 5–6
Keep a steady count
Loop 1, 5, 6m, 4 and give each chord four slow counts, out loud. Change without stopping.
Slow is fine; even is the point. If a change makes you stop, slow the whole count down instead.
A metronome or a drum loop helps. Without one, most players speed up without noticing.
Minutes 7–8
Put a bass note under it
Your left hand plays one low key, the chord’s own key: C under C, G under G, A under Am and F under F.
Press both hands together, then hold. Hands together is the tricky part, so go slower than feels necessary.
Minutes 9–10
Play freely over the loop
Keep the bass notes going. With the right hand, play only keys from the chord that is sounding, in any order and rhythm.
Nothing here can go wrong. End on 1, the C chord, and listen to how it sounds like home.
Later, try any white key over the loop; the chord keys will sound the most settled.
Next week
Take the same four to another key
1–5–6m–4 in G is G · D · Em · C
In the key of G, 1, 5, 6m and 4 are G, D, Em and C. The numbers stay; the shapes under your hand change.
The D chord is D, F♯ and A, with one black key. Run the same five steps, and the new shape is the practice.
Common questions
Do I need to read music to play chords?
No, chord names and numbers tell you which keys to press, and your ears do the rest.
Why numbers, if I already know the names?
A move you know by number works in every key. When a song sits better somewhere else, you move the numbers instead of working it out again.
What if a change keeps going wrong?
Take just those two chords, without a count, until your hand finds the second shape without looking. Then bring the count back.
How often should I do this?
Ten minutes a few times a week is a good rhythm. Short and often tends to beat long and rare.
Does this work on a digital piano or MIDI keyboard?
Yes, and on an acoustic piano too. If you want an app to follow along, check which keyboards work with an iPad.
KeyFu
Get the next step planned for you
KeyFu is a piano practice coach for iPhone and iPad that plans what you practice next.
New shapes come first, untimed, then the changes between them, and only then a steady tempo.
Chords carry both number and name, like 6m · Am. Once you know a shape by its number, the coach may offer to drop the name.
It reads your keyboard over MIDI, so it notices the change that keeps catching. When the coach changes the plan, he says why.
In KeyFu the same numbers carry these chords to any of the twelve keys. And in Play freely, the app holds the chord under you while you play.
Join the beta
Invitations go out in small waves. A few chords are enough to start.
We send one confirmation email, then invitations in small waves. Without the tick we use your address only for the beta and the launch (privacy).
You need an iPhone or iPad and a keyboard that connects by USB or Bluetooth MIDI — most digital pianos do.